mikeweil

This is the thread in question.

This option was denied in an earlier poll, and the moderation team is not for it, either. Only realistic option would be pinning this thread, which is a link list of all - to answer BFrank's question.

This Gary McFarland LP was on my doorstep this afternoon - got it on ebay for five bucks plus shipping, which is a real bargain, considering the quality of the music. It is vital and fresh as when it was first released.

Some fan should start it. Besides that I told the moderation team that I will not start such a poll. Make sure it asks to pin this thread, yes or no.

Cast in a vote with the moderation team ...

I just listened to some samples:

I have one of Shepik's CDs with organ - I see it is Places You Go - like this one, too.

Now that's an insteresting and inspiring record! I will get this!

I listened to sound samples - is there a bass player or did Shepik overdub bass lines? The music itself is fine ...

Thanks - nice suggestions. I used to have some Charlie Hunter discs, but was somewhat underwhelmed. Especially the duo CD with Leon Parker wasn't loose enough for my taste.

The market is very very small even over here for reissues of German jazz recordings. There is a CD every now and then, but I know they do not make any money on it. These albums sold less than a thousand copies back then, and it isn't much more today.

Playing on a jam session with this band when it passed through town was one of the great musical moments in my life. A percussionist friend of mine was taking lessons with a Brazilian at the time, so we all went there and took the band to a club where another Brazilian pianist, Izio Gross, was working after hours. They played some hilarious four handed piano of Caravan, Brazil and stuff ... the band was cooking. Hermeto was such a sweet guy ... I'll never forget this. I put him on a level with Villa-Lobos and people. Hermeto and Moacir Santos are some of the greatest composers Brazil has ever seen.

The reason many Brazilian musicians went to the US was they had more freedom in making their records there. Brazilian producers mostly wanted catchy two minute songs and absolutely no solos and instrumental improvisation. That was easier to do in the US as the jazz audience was open to this. Hermeto had to run his own label to get his music out the way he wanted to. Moacir even had problems in the US, as his rhythms were so unusual, beyond bossa nova. The phrasing partly lies in the language, but it also is the different tradition of phrasing that is inherent in the choro music and some things of African descent. Elis was special - I don't think any other Brazialian singer got there before or since. She wore her heart on her tongue, but that's also what made her so vulnerable.

One more problem is, the three of us are at a point where we know each other pretty well and punch out new, rather sophisticated and unusual arrangements of standard material very fast, like three or four of 'em on one rehearsal - most guys here are content to play this stuff the way they are used to, and are amazed and intimidated when they learn how we treat well known tunes - e.g. during our last rehearsal we played a new version of Good Bye Pork Pie Hat on a different groove just for fun, and now we have two versions to open and close sets ... ... one is on some Afro-Cuban Bembé type groove with heavy polymetrics, the new one like some weird old-time Chicago Blues with the guitarist more or less holding the groove while the saxist keeps changing the melody's rhythm and I keep displacing accents. You see, we have a lot of fun playing ....

We keep looking for a bass player, but it's hard to find one who can read, play straightahead with as much conviction as Cuban or Brazilian bass lines, and odd meters just as well. So far four turned us down 'cause they thought they were not up to it.

Listened to sound samples of the Lake/Jackson/AlLaff Trio - while this is an enganging group, it's a bit too far from where we are. We play some standard material, but with different grooves and tempos than the originals, like All Blues in 11/4 (with the B section in 12/4), or so what on some drum machine Hip Hop groove, or Jobim tunes part straight, very old style Bossa Nova, part with heavy Afro-Brazilian Grooves. Our saxist favors Brecker, wrote his thesis on Garbarek (who asked him for a signed copy when he learned about it), and wrote some Oregon-sounding originals, but his most recent is a tune on Solar changes with me laying down some kind of Afro-Samba below. We are a bit more conservative on the surface than the examples suggested, but only on the surface.

Great suggestion - just ordered this one:

I'm afraid this won't happen ...

A HIGHE birthday to our LOWE one!

Indeed a fine album ... makes me think we should be a bit more daring. All of these players' styles are totally different from ours, but the way they interact and how they treat the tunes is great. Wollesen is an execellent drummer. Ubu, can you tell me when this was recorded?

I'm not the album covers thread police ...

I really dug Steely Dan for a while, but in the long run I found they were too controlled and perfectionist, lacking the looseness of jazz - and that's the reason why I think they didn't influence jazz musicians.

Downlaoding the Ellery Eskelin / Marc Ribot / Kenny Wollesen disc - my first official download, as the CD goes for steep prices ...

Thanks a lot - I will check out the first two. I forgot about Motian with Lovano, but since neither our saxist nor myself like Lovano, we can skip that one. Please keep 'em coming!

Since my current band has sax, guitars, and me on percussion (or a small drumset played mostly with brushes), I'm looking for bassless trio recording with this lineup, or sax/piano/drums or percussion. Concerning the latter, I have the classics by Lester Young, Bud Freeman etc. but I'm curious about more modern stylistics. I have Billy Pierce sans bass: But sax/guitar/drums is what I'm really after - any recommendations? Thanks!